Once upon
a time, there was a monk who lived in a tiny monastery in a little
village. He was very fortunate that the village rich man supported
him in the monastery. He never had to worry about the cares of the
world. His alms food was always provided automatically by the rich
man.

So the monk was
calm and peaceful in his mind. There was no fear of losing his comfort
and his daily food. There was no desire for greater comforts and pleasures
of the world. Instead, he was free to practice the correct conduct
of a monk, always trying to eliminate his faults and do only wholesome
deeds. But he didn't know just how lucky he was!

One day an elder
monk arrived in the little village. He had followed the path of Truth
until he had become perfect and faultless.

When the village
rich man saw this unknown monk, he was very pleased by his gentle
manner and his calm attitude. So he invited him into his home. He
gave him food to eat, and he thought himself very fortunate to hear
a short teaching from him. He then invited him to take shelter at
the village monastery. He said, "I will visit you there this
evening, to make sure all is well."

When the perfect
monk arrived at the monastery, he met the village monk. They greeted
each other pleasantly. Then the village monk asked, "Have you
had your lunch today?" The other replied, "Yes, I was given
lunch by the supporter of this monastery. He also invited me to take
shelter here."

The village monk
took him to a room and left him there. The perfect monk passed his
time in meditation.

Later that evening,
the village rich man came. He brought fruit drinks, flowers and lamp
oil, in honor of the visiting holy man. He asked the village monk,
"Where is our guest?" He told him what room he had given
him.

The man went to
the room, bowed respectfully, and greeted the perfect monk. Again
he appreciated hearing the way of Truth as taught by the rare faultless
one.

Afterwards, as
evening approached, he lit the lamps and offered the flowers at the
monastery's lovely temple shrine. He invited both monks to lunch at
his home the next day. Then he left and returned home.

In the evening,
a terrible thing happened. The village monk, who had been so contented,
allowed the poison of jealousy to creep into his mind. He thought,
"The village rich man has made it easy for me here. He provides
shelter each night and fills my belly once a day.

"But I'm
afraid this will change because he respects this new monk so highly.
If he remains in this monastery, my supporter may stop caring for
me. Therefore, I must make sure the new monk does not stay."

Thinking in this
way, he lost his former mental calm. His mind became disturbed due
to his jealousy - the fear of losing his comfort and his daily food.
This led to the added mental pain of resentment against the perfect
monk. He began plotting and scheming to get rid of him.

Late that night,
as was the custom, the monks met together to end the day. The perfect
monk spoke in his usual friendly way, but the village monk would not
speak to him at all.

So the wise monk
understood that he was jealous and resentful. He thought, 'This monk
does not understand my freedom from attachment to families, people
and comforts. I am free of any desire to remain here. I am also free
of any desire to leave here. It makes no difference. It is sad this
other one cannot understand non-attachment. I pity him for the price
he must pay for his ignorance."

He returned to
his room, closed the door. and meditated in a high mental state throughout
the night.

The next day,
when it was time to go collect alms food from the supporter of the
monastery, the village monk rang the temple gong. But he rang it by
tapping it lightly with his finger nail. Even the birds in the temple
courtyard could not hear the tiny sound.

Then he went to
the visiting monk's room and knocked on the door. But again he only
tapped lightly with his finger nail. Even the little mice inside the
walls could not hear the silent tapping.

Having done his
courteous duty in such a tricky way, he went to the rich man's home.
The man bowed respectfully to the monk, took his alms bowl. and asked,
"Where is the new monk, our visitor?"

The village monk
replied, "I have not seen him. I rang the gong, I knocked at
his door, but he did not appear. Perhaps he was not used to such rich
food as you gave him yesterday. Perhaps he is still asleep, busily
digesting it, dreaming of his next feast! Perhaps this is the kind
of monk who pleases you so much!"

Meanwhile, back
at the monastery, the perfect monk awoke. He cleaned himself and put
on his robe. Then he calmly departed to collect alms food wherever
he happened to find it.

The rich man fed
the village monk the richest of food. It was delicious and sweet,
made from rice, milk, butter. sugar and honey. When the monk had eaten
his fill. the man took his bowl, scrubbed it clean, and sweetened
it with perfumed water. He filled it up again with the same wonderful
food. He gave it back to the monk, saying, ''Honorable monk, our holy
visitor must be worn out from travelling. Please take my humble alms
food to him." Saying nothing, he accepted the generous gift for
the other.

By now the village
monk's mind was trapped by its own jealous scheming. He thought, "If
that other monk eats this fantastic meal, even if I grabbed him by
the throat and kicked him out, he still would never leave! I must
secretly get rid of this alms food. But if I give it to a stranger,
it will become known and talked about. If I throw it away in a pond,
the butter will float. on the surface and be discovered. If I throw
it away on the ground, crows will come from miles around to feast
on it, and that too would be noticed. So how can I get rid of it?"

Then he saw a
field that had just been burned by farmers to enrich the soil. It
was covered with hot glowing coals. So he threw the rich man's generous
gift on the coals. The alms food burned up without a trace. And with
it went his peace of mind!

For, when he got
back to the monastery, he found the visitor gone. He thought, "This
must have been a perfectly wise monk. He must have known I was jealous
afraid of losing my favored position. He must have known I resented
him and tried to trick him into leaving. I wasted alms food meant
for him. And all for the sake of keeping my own belly full! I'm afraid
something terrible will happen to me! What have I done?" So,
afraid of losing his easy daily food, he had thrown away his peace
of mind.

For the rest of
his life the rich man continued to support him. But his mind was filled
with torment and suffering. He felt doomed like a walking starving
zombie, or a living hungry ghost.

When he died,
his torment continued. For he was reborn in a hell world, where he
suffered for hundreds of thousands of years.

Finally, there
too he died, as all beings must. But the results of his past actions
were only partly completed. So he was reborn as a demon, 500 times!
In those 500 lives, there was only one day when he got enough to eat,
and that was a meal of afterbirth dropped by a deer in the forest!

Then he was reborn
as a starving stray dog another 500 times! For the sake of a full
monk's belly in a past life, all these 500 lives were also filled
with hunger, and quarrelling over food. Only a single time did he
get enough to eat, and that was a meal of vomit he found in a gutter!

Finally most of
the results of his actions were finished. Only then was he so very
fortunate enough to be reborn as a human being. He was born into the
poorest of the poor beggar families of the city of Kasi, in northern
India. He was given the name, Mittavinda.

From the moment
of his birth, this poor family became even more poor and miserable.
After a few years, the pain of hunger became so great, that his parents
beat him and chased Mittavinda away for good. They shouted, "Be
gone forever! You are nothing but a curse!"

Poor Mittavinda!
So very long ago he had not known how lucky he was. He was contented
as a humble village monk. But he allowed the poison of jealousy to
enter his mind - the fear of losing his easy daily food. This led
to the self-torture of resentment against a perfect monk, and to trickery
in denying him one wholesome gift of alms food. And it took a thousand
and one lives for the loss of his comfort and daily food to be completed.
What he had feared, his own actions had brought to pass!